NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (AFP) - Tibet's government in exile said Thursday it hoped the death of Deng Xiaoping would lead to the start of new relations with China.

A spokesman of the Tibetan bureau here said: "The Tibetan government hopes that the death of Deng Xiaoping will bring new openings for finding a peaceful and satisfactory solution to the issue of Tibet."

Deng died Wednesday at the age of 92.

Tempa Tsering, secretary of the Dalai Lama's bureau said Deng Xiaoping was directly responsible for "decades of repression and suffering in Tibet."

"Deng failed to respond positively to Dalai Lama's numerous constructive and conciliatory initiatives for resolving the Tibetan issue through peaceful negotiations."

Chinese troops took over Tibet in 1951 and then put down an uprising in 1959, prompting the Dalai Lama to flee to India, where he remains in exile.

"No living Chinese leader today may have much personal interests in retaining China's stranglehold on Tibet as did Deng. Deng was personally involved in all of China's major campaigns against Tibet," he said.

India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans with their headquarters at Dharamsala, known as "Little Lhasa," which hosts about 7,000 Tibetans.

Tsering said Deng's economic reforms might have benefitted China but in Tibet, the reforms have been used as an impetus for "transfer of Chinese population which is now threatening to reduce Tibetans into an insignificant minority in their own country."

He said Deng's death provided new opportunities and challenges for both Tibetans and Chinese leaders.

"We hope that Deng's successor, Jiang Zemin, will find courage to solve the Tibetan problem in the spirit of tolerance, reconciliation and compromise."